mutton1

[muht-n] /ˈmʌt n/
noun
1.
the flesh of sheep, especially full-grown or more mature sheep, used as food.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English moton sheep < Old French < Celtic; compare MIr molt, Welsh mollt, Breton maout wether
Related forms
muttony, adjective

mutton2

[muht-n] /ˈmʌt n/
noun, Printing.
1.
em (def 2).
Also called mut.
Origin
1935-40; code term, coined to differentiate the pronunciation of em quad from en quad
Examples from the web for mutton
  • Well, they certainly aren't chewing many leftover mutton bones anymore.
  • Nothing else but this food, except an occasional change to broiled mutton.
  • Instead, you may be offered imitation bear's paw made from mutton pushed into a paw-shaped mould.
  • The next morning they returned for a breakfast of mutton and ham.
  • There he sat, munching his mutton and rice, an outcast from his countrymen.
  • There is food: bubbling mutton kebabs seared over red-hot braziers.
  • There was no order to cookbooks: a cake recipe might be followed by a mutton one.
  • We all know that these are now as dead as mutton, and as distasteful as stale mutton.
  • In a bare and icy room the officers' wives served us tea mixed with salt, mutton fat, and camel's milk.
British Dictionary definitions for mutton

mutton

/ˈmʌtən/
noun
1.
the flesh of sheep, esp of mature sheep, used as food
2.
mutton dressed as lamb, an older woman dressed up to look young
3.
(printing) another word for em (sense 1) Compare nut (sense 12)
Derived Forms
muttony, adjective
Word Origin
C13 moton sheep, from Old French, from Medieval Latin multō, of Celtic origin; the term was adopted in printing to distinguish the pronunciation of em quad from en quad
Word Origin and History for mutton
n.

"flesh of sheep used as food," late 13c., from Old French moton "mutton; ram, wether, sheep" (12c., Modern French mouton), from Medieval Latin multonem (8c.), probably from Gallo-Romance *multo-s, accusative of Celtic *multo "sheep" (cf. Old Irish molt "wether," Mid-Breton mout, Welsh mollt); the same word also was borrowed into Italian as montone "a sheep." Transferred slang sense of "food for lust, loose women, prostitutes" (1510s) led to extensive British slang uses down to the present day for woman variously regarded as seeking lovers or as lust objects. Mutton chop is from 1720; as a style of side whiskers, from 1865.